International Society of Caricature Artists- North Carolina-2008

Here's one of did of the "ROCK" while standing on a chair above him (there were 100 drawings of him, so I was trying to change it up). A photo of me and Rock. One of me and some say my look-a-like- Steve Silver, and some drawings I did from his figure drawing for character design class. The interesting exercise was to study the figure and then draw from memory after she breaks the pose. The last photo is of our workspace showcasing Jason Seiler's great acrylic painting of George Lucas. There's a better copy on his blog.

Even more ISCA stuff

Here's some more- one of Seo Kim in brown pencil and brown brush pen (ignore the spot), one of Jan Neggers in un-inked scratchboard, and a photo of Fred Harper, Jason Seiler and Paul Moyse with me telling Jason's Brother-In-Law to push the button on the camera half-way to focus.

More ISCA Convention

Here's some more work from my wall. Each artist is given a section of the wall to display their work with a number. Then, throughout the week you try to caricature whoever you want out of the people there and then at the end, you are judged by everybody in attendance in a number of different categories. There is best black and white, best color, best cartoony style, best abstract style, etc.
The first one is of someone I drew from life while attending Joe Bluhm's advanced party caricature seminar. Don't worry, Joe, I was still listening. The second is of Mikey in Acrylic and the third is of Kamal from Singapore in scratchboard.

NCN(ISCA) Convention-2008

Just got back Sat. night from a long drive from North Carolina where I attended the National Caricaturist Network Convention- (now called more appropriately the International Society of Caricature Artists). It was a lot of work, but always inspirational and worth the trip. I was fortunate enough to sit next to Jason Seiler and Fred Harper during the convention who inspired me from a painter's point of view and helped me to push myself. I drove down with Paul Moyse and Fred Harper- both of whom are very talented. Paul also did a great one of me. Check these guys out and Jason Seiler from my links to the right. They are all award winners. Btw, the one in the cap is Jason and is pastel and the other one is Paul and is painted with Acrylics. More to come...

Neil Simon

This is the last caricature I did for the Profile Theatre in Portland, Oregon. Unfortunately, this is the first year that they didn't have the caricature on the cover of the program for the season. This is the back cover of the first play that they're doing. Instead, the managing director decided to put a digitized photo of Neil Simon's name on a building for the cover. Very lame. It's not my cousin's fault, though- I'm grateful for all the work she's gotten me over the years for their group.

Mihai Eminescu

Here's the last one- Mihai Eminescu. Colored pencil on illustration board with acrylic in the background.

Ion Luca Caragiale

Here's another one for the Romanian show. One more to go...

Nichita Stanescu

Here's the third of the Romanian personalities for the show in Romania. I have two more to do and then I have to send all of the originals in and hope I'm chosen. Either way, it will be in the show, but if I'm chosen, I'll get to go over there for free.

The only thing I wish with all of these, is better photo references. Sometimes you have to make do with what they give you. The web has very little on these people...

John Kascht's Rudy and Obama

Here's some great sketches John did of Guiliani and Obama of which were included in the video.

The Politics Show Opening at the Society of Illustrators

This was the opening of the show of Politics at the Society of Illustrators here in NYC (128 E. 63rd). It mainly featured some of the best caricaturists around, including Philip Burke, Steve Brodner, John Kacsht, and Peter DeSeve, amongst others.
Pictured here on top is one of me and my caricaturist friend, Glenn Hilario with the infamous Philip Burke- someone I've wanted to meet since around 1988. He was a nice guy- easy to talk to, and forthcoming about sharing his process. Here are some of his painting featured that night as well as a brilliant Sarah Palin by my old teacher, Steve Brodner. Steve also had his sketchbook on a pedestal so everyone could flip through it. There were also videos that he had made with the New Yorker called "The Naked Campaign" which were great to see again. Downstairs featured John Kacsht's work and also a video of him explaining his process. I met him as well and he was also a nice, down to earth fellow. I'll include one of the photos I took of his above...

Nothing can stop me now

This is the loft my friend Alex built over my drafting table the past couple of days. It's going to help with my storage problem in my work room/common space room. It also forced me to clean up all of the stuff I had on my table for years and now I can finally use it for what it's supposed to be used for. I nailed in a thin strip of wood at the base of the table with a cut-out area for my arm when I draw. I don't know why I didn't figure this out earlier, but it makes all the difference in the world when the table is angled.
I then put the Japanese shoji screen on the side to help enclose the space and help me focus when working. I just need to reorganize now and then get back to work...

Some more Park Caricatures

Here's some more caricatures from Central Park, NYC- a refuge for people in a big city seeking greener pastures.

Emil Cioran

Sorry for the lag in blog entries; I was having an artistic lull and I was also waiting to hook up my new scanner.
This one is on Emil Cioran- a Romanian personality (writer?) for the Romanian caricature contest I've mentioned before. I have one more to go- almost done with that one...
This is mainly colored pencil with some pastel.

The Boss

Here's the Bruce Springsteen painting in 5 stages- painted in Acrylic. I was trying to use the red, white and blue motif in the color-scheme to show that he is America- not something separate on a flag, or purely political or nationalistic. When there is something wrong with this country, it should be criticized as he has done in the past.
Anyway, I thought I was making him too red in the face which could imply other meanings, so I toned it down a bit with more of an orange-red and some purples in the shadows as well...
This is at "Rumours"- 55th & 8th Ave. in Manhattan.

2 more...

Ezekiel 25:17

Here's another one of Samuel L. Jackson.

Amy

Here's one of Amy Winehouse in the more simplified style. Take a guess as to what the background is.